Total depravity (also called total inability and total corruption) is a theological doctrine that derives from the Augustinian concept of original sin. It is the teaching that, as a consequence of the Fall of Man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin and, apart from the efficacious or prevenient grace of God, is utterly unable to choose to follow God or choose to accept salvation as it is freely offered. (Wikipedia)
As controversial as this topic is I thought I might take a stab at it. My overall problem with this heretic doctrine is that it implies a bondage of man's free will, thereby taking the blame off the individual. In fact Martin Luther wrote a book by that name. Total depravity ascertains that because of Adam's sin, man was depraved in every aspect of his being, somehow rendering his will inoperative. A question I would have is, why did Adam sin and was he also totally depraved? The idea is that because of the tendency of man to follow after the lusts of his flesh, that that would indicate that the will is kaput (broken).
No simple person reading the bible for the first time would ever come to that conclusion. If any person reading the bible does not feel personally convicted of sin, there is something deeply wrong. If I thought that I was born with the inability to do the right thing, then God would be to blame for my sin. If, like the bible says, we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and answer for the deeds done in our bodies, how can we be to blame for those bad deeds we did, if our will was in bondage? We would never be blameworthy at anytime if we were unable to chose to do right.
Say I went up to an unsaved person and asked them how to get to heaven, and they said, "Well, you just do the best you can", and I said, "Have you done the best you can? This week have you sinned when you knew you shouldn't, and if you did sin, could you have not sinned?" They would of course say, "yes". You would then have to admit that they deserve to be damned. They are blameworthy because they knew to do right, they had the ability to do right, and that is why they are blameworthy. Sin is in the intentions. Without the intention to sin, it would no longer be sin. To explain my point, if a blind man came along and stumbled over your baby, you wouldn't be angry with him. He did not intend to kick your baby so he cannot be blamed. But if along came a man that hated your baby because it was crying and came over and kicked your baby, you would probably grab a stick and beat him. Why? Because of his intention. His will was not in bondage. His total depravity was not a sufficient excuse for you, to not impute blame to him. The same it is with us. We intentionally turned our backs to God and intentionally, with our will present, disobeyed the truth that we held.
This bondage of the will leads directly to election and predestination. The conclusion one comes to is, if man does not have the ability to do right and chose to accept the free gift of salvation, then God must have elected and predestinated us according to his sovereign grace. Therefore God, before the foundations of the world elected some to go to heaven and some to go to hell. This is what Calvinist's say. Let's run with this doctrine for a bit. Say for instance, God elected and predestinated thirteen people out of a hundred. Wouldn't a loving God, if He so willed, elect fifteen? Why leave that little old lady out? Why not fifty? I know! Why... If I were God I would elect all one hundred! Call me crazy. I am so loving I would overcome everyone's will with my irresistible grace and save everyone!
What do I believe? I believe that man was created to be in fellowship (relationship) with God. When Adam sinned, he broke that fellowship, through his deliberate intention to disobey God and go his own way. Without the a relationship of faith with God, man is incomplete and unable to overcome the natural desires of our bodies of flesh. The bible states it this way...
Romans 8:3 FOR WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO, IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
The law could not accomplish the desired end (which was eternal life) because the natural drives of the flesh were too powerful for the law to continuously overcome. The law did not supply sufficient motivation for us to overcome these natural drives (to eat, procreate, sleep etc.) that are inherent in our mortal bodies. I believe that we are morally depraved, in that without being rightly related to God (born again), our will or motivation is insufficient. Only through the new birth can (and do) we overcome. Only overcomers will eat from the tree of life and only those that believe on the Lord Jesus with all their hearts, will overcome.
As pertain in to election and predestination, it was according to the foreknowledge of God. God knew whom he would be able to convince and persuade to repent towards Him, and believe the gospel. Those that He foreknew, those He elected and predestined. It's not rocket science. That is as far as I am willing to take that. To try to think like God and put Him in a box, I am not willing to do. Bottom line... God's sovereignty works in conjunction with our free will. If it didn't, God could just have created robots and got the same effect.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
What Is The Church?
My goal here is not to offend people, but to perhaps open some eyes and get the reader to ask some deep questions, so the truth can come out. What I want to delve into is, what is the church, and is our modern concept of the church the same as the one portrayed in the scriptures? The next question is, what if it isn't? Should we do something about it, or should we just continue on with the status quo? Some might say that we shouldn't meddle with such things, but I am hungry for the truth, and not content with, "just let it be". Let's answer this question first... Where does God dwell?
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Act 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
So we have ascertained that God does not dwell in buildings made with hands. God says, "Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool". Seems kind of silly, restricting God, who's throne is all of heaven and One who uses earth as a resting place for His feet, to a building. How should we translate this into our modern vocabulary? What about saying, "We are in the house of God". That is scripturally inaccurate. "Let's go to church", is inaccurate. So moving on, what is the church if it is not a building made with hands? What is the temple of the Living God?
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
Our body is the temple of God according to that passage. This is the mystery, spoken of by the apostle Paul which is, Christ in you and the hope of glory. God lives in us. We can't go to the house of God, when we are the house of God. What does the bible say is the church?
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is HIS BODY, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
We see that in the context it is clearly speaking of Christ. Also we see that Christ is the head over all things to the church. Now comes the definition of the church... His body. Now some would say that "His body" is referring to a group or body of people. Every time the word, "body", is used in the new testament it is referring to a literal, physical body. A body of flesh that we would wash and cloth. Let's wrap our minds around that.
1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Here we see that a physical body has many members. What are members? Members are fingers, toes, hands, arms, legs, head, sex organs etc.
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain ONE NEW MAN, so making peace;
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in ONE BODY by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Just to make sure we all see this, there it is. "One body", is the church, and the body is, "One new Man", which is Christ. The bible is not a tough book to understand if we just read what it says and believe it. It is when we allegorize and spiritualize scripture, that we run into confusion.
This all ties together beautifully when we see it. We are the temple of the living God.
2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
So we have come to this conclusion... We are members of the body of Christ, which is the church. Not only are we members of Christ's body, Christ lives in us! We are the church! It is impossible to, "go to church". We Christians ARE the church. Church is not an institution. It is a living, breathing organism. There is nothing spiritual or holy about a "church building". God dwells in us, not in some brick structure. We, in modern times have this club mentality. We all want to belong to a certain denomination or fellowship. It is not enough to be a member of Christ's body. In fact, Jesus Himself is not enough these days. We need to be a card carrying member of one group or another, and it is entirely unscriptural. There is not one denomination in the bible. In fact, dividing the body of Christ up into groups who have differing beliefs is carnal (read 1Cor 1). Saying, "I belong to this group or that group", is carnal. It is divisive. The church in the bible is only separated by distance or geography. They met in homes wherever and whenever they pleased. Nowhere in scripture does it say that you must meet with the same Christians every week. Nowhere does it say that you should belong to a certain group or not to meet with "less enlightened or more enlightened" Christians. To give some examples... If I were to call some brothers and ask them to meet me at Starbucks for a coffee... The church would be meeting. If some brothers and I decided to go to a restaurant for supper and have communion... the church would be meeting. We Christians are the church.
What we do now a days is... Most "church" goers are casual all week, living their lives, working there jobs... Real life. Then on Sunday, we stop arguing right before, "church", screaming at our kids to get their best holy clothes on, getting into the nicely washed and polished car, put on our best Sunday smile and pretend that we are the perfect Christian family with absolutely no issues. It's fake and hypocritical. It doesn't seem real. We are not ourselves. Just pretending. The whole thing is a performance and I don't see how it is pleasing to God. Maybe I am wrong. I hope so. In the book of Acts, this Christian life was called, "the way". It was and is a way of life. Not performance oriented, like a well choreographed production. "Church" is now an institution structured like a business. You have a sales team (congregation trying to get people to come to their "church"), a budget, a corporate head (pastor), councilors, worship leader, worship teams, pensions, salaries... It just doesn't seem to be biblical.
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Act 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
So we have ascertained that God does not dwell in buildings made with hands. God says, "Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool". Seems kind of silly, restricting God, who's throne is all of heaven and One who uses earth as a resting place for His feet, to a building. How should we translate this into our modern vocabulary? What about saying, "We are in the house of God". That is scripturally inaccurate. "Let's go to church", is inaccurate. So moving on, what is the church if it is not a building made with hands? What is the temple of the Living God?
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
Our body is the temple of God according to that passage. This is the mystery, spoken of by the apostle Paul which is, Christ in you and the hope of glory. God lives in us. We can't go to the house of God, when we are the house of God. What does the bible say is the church?
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is HIS BODY, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
We see that in the context it is clearly speaking of Christ. Also we see that Christ is the head over all things to the church. Now comes the definition of the church... His body. Now some would say that "His body" is referring to a group or body of people. Every time the word, "body", is used in the new testament it is referring to a literal, physical body. A body of flesh that we would wash and cloth. Let's wrap our minds around that.
1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Here we see that a physical body has many members. What are members? Members are fingers, toes, hands, arms, legs, head, sex organs etc.
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain ONE NEW MAN, so making peace;
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in ONE BODY by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Just to make sure we all see this, there it is. "One body", is the church, and the body is, "One new Man", which is Christ. The bible is not a tough book to understand if we just read what it says and believe it. It is when we allegorize and spiritualize scripture, that we run into confusion.
This all ties together beautifully when we see it. We are the temple of the living God.
2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
So we have come to this conclusion... We are members of the body of Christ, which is the church. Not only are we members of Christ's body, Christ lives in us! We are the church! It is impossible to, "go to church". We Christians ARE the church. Church is not an institution. It is a living, breathing organism. There is nothing spiritual or holy about a "church building". God dwells in us, not in some brick structure. We, in modern times have this club mentality. We all want to belong to a certain denomination or fellowship. It is not enough to be a member of Christ's body. In fact, Jesus Himself is not enough these days. We need to be a card carrying member of one group or another, and it is entirely unscriptural. There is not one denomination in the bible. In fact, dividing the body of Christ up into groups who have differing beliefs is carnal (read 1Cor 1). Saying, "I belong to this group or that group", is carnal. It is divisive. The church in the bible is only separated by distance or geography. They met in homes wherever and whenever they pleased. Nowhere in scripture does it say that you must meet with the same Christians every week. Nowhere does it say that you should belong to a certain group or not to meet with "less enlightened or more enlightened" Christians. To give some examples... If I were to call some brothers and ask them to meet me at Starbucks for a coffee... The church would be meeting. If some brothers and I decided to go to a restaurant for supper and have communion... the church would be meeting. We Christians are the church.
What we do now a days is... Most "church" goers are casual all week, living their lives, working there jobs... Real life. Then on Sunday, we stop arguing right before, "church", screaming at our kids to get their best holy clothes on, getting into the nicely washed and polished car, put on our best Sunday smile and pretend that we are the perfect Christian family with absolutely no issues. It's fake and hypocritical. It doesn't seem real. We are not ourselves. Just pretending. The whole thing is a performance and I don't see how it is pleasing to God. Maybe I am wrong. I hope so. In the book of Acts, this Christian life was called, "the way". It was and is a way of life. Not performance oriented, like a well choreographed production. "Church" is now an institution structured like a business. You have a sales team (congregation trying to get people to come to their "church"), a budget, a corporate head (pastor), councilors, worship leader, worship teams, pensions, salaries... It just doesn't seem to be biblical.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
How Shall We Live?
How ought we to live our Christian lives? I see this as an incredibly important topic... One which deserves further study. How should we live our Christian lives, day to day, moment by moment? Should we be living our lives by looking deep inside of ourselves, with our entire focus and affection on how to better ourselves, becoming more disciplined in our devotions, bible study, getting more involved in church activities etc... Or should we live spontaneous spiritual lives, resting in the finished work of Christ, believing moment to moment the promises of God, and rejoicing in the hope of eternal life? These are the questions that intrigue me and I hope that they will at least raise some important questions.
I see a great danger in the methods and manners that some professing Christians are living their lives by. They are seeking to go deeper into the Christian life and in so doing are taking their focus off Christ and His righteousness. Trying to "die to self", and "crucifying the flesh", seeking humility (and taking great pride in that), fighting against the world, the flesh, and the devil, trying to overcome them with scheduled prayer, bible reading, fasting, rudiments, traditions and wisdom of the world. It will work to a certain extent... The same way it would work for a Muslim or a Mormon. It's all deeply rooted in self and I believe like Paul that it is no longer I but Christ that lives in me. Self died on the cross. All that is left is a new creature in Christ Jesus. The Christian life is not hard. It's not difficult when you believe, but the hard thing for some is to believe, and believe that it really is that simple. Many people make it so confusing and I believe it is forever the work of the devil to make it so.
2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, NOT WITH FLESHLY WISDOM, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
What would fleshly wisdom be? I believe that it would be wisdom that the world would deem to be wise. Anybody, Jew or Greek, Buddhist or Hindu would see the wisdom in living a disciplined spiritual life. Should we shun anything that the world esteems? Absolutely not. But the Apostle Paul does warn that we should not be beguiled with enticing words after these things and not after Christ. I will use the God's word as an example. Is the law bad? No it is not. Would it be bad for me to do the things in the law? Absolutely not. Should I live by the law and not faith in Christ? There is the difference. We are not to live after Christian life principles. We are to live by faith, with Christ fully in our spiritual crosshairs, so to speak.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.
That is how we should live. In a pool of faith, moment to moment. Me living in my reality with my focus on my Christian life is not faith. That would be sight. It all boils down to motivation. Do your good works come out of a pool of faith, or out of self? What I see is that so many professing Christians are so enamored with wanting to do something that they never fully rest in Christ's finished work. They never fully enjoy and are thankful for what Jesus did while He was here on earth. Every time someone is thankful for the finished work on the cross, there is always that, "Ya but you got to do your part you know". I know that the question many are asking right now is, "Should we not do any good works?". It is not good works that God hates. It is good works that ignore His works that He hates. God will not have us glorying in our flesh in His presence. Whatever is not of faith is sin and we are to live our lives by faith in the Son of God. What we need then is to know what we have in Christ. How God views us is absolutely critical to the way we live our lives. The bible says that we are dead and our lives are hid with Christ, in God. It also says that we have been crucified with Christ. We are in Christ, members of His physical body, part of His history. One with Jesus. Christ is our life. How can we die to ourselves if our lives are hid in Christ? How can we crucify the flesh if our flesh was crucified with His? How can we build upon our righteousness when Christ is our righteousness? Why should we fight and strive against the world, the flesh, and the devil when we are in Christ and He has already overcome them all? Is Christ not freed from sin? Seeing that we are in Him and members of His body, are not we also? Are we not overwhelming conquerors through Him? Can we improve on that? I think if we all could just read scripture and believe what it says, we would start living that overcoming life by faith and God would get the glory and not us. That's as simple as it gets.
An added note. The word discipline only appears once in the bible in the book of Job. What if we led disciplined lives (in reference to relationship) with our family and spouses? What would it look like? Scheduled appointment times perhaps, with detailed itineraries of what activities would take place. Sound intimate to you? Absolutely absurd. I wonder what God thinks when we have scheduled worship, prayer, and devotions...? When our spiritual lives are planned out to the last detail, is our relationship real? When our relationship with God is just going through the motions, does it please Him? If it is not spontaneous, isn't it just acting or going through the motions to make us feel better? Do we really know God or are our lives just based on a belief system, a doctrine or just another empty religion? Without faith it is impossible to please Him and that is how we approach God and relate to Him.
I see a great danger in the methods and manners that some professing Christians are living their lives by. They are seeking to go deeper into the Christian life and in so doing are taking their focus off Christ and His righteousness. Trying to "die to self", and "crucifying the flesh", seeking humility (and taking great pride in that), fighting against the world, the flesh, and the devil, trying to overcome them with scheduled prayer, bible reading, fasting, rudiments, traditions and wisdom of the world. It will work to a certain extent... The same way it would work for a Muslim or a Mormon. It's all deeply rooted in self and I believe like Paul that it is no longer I but Christ that lives in me. Self died on the cross. All that is left is a new creature in Christ Jesus. The Christian life is not hard. It's not difficult when you believe, but the hard thing for some is to believe, and believe that it really is that simple. Many people make it so confusing and I believe it is forever the work of the devil to make it so.
2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, NOT WITH FLESHLY WISDOM, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
What would fleshly wisdom be? I believe that it would be wisdom that the world would deem to be wise. Anybody, Jew or Greek, Buddhist or Hindu would see the wisdom in living a disciplined spiritual life. Should we shun anything that the world esteems? Absolutely not. But the Apostle Paul does warn that we should not be beguiled with enticing words after these things and not after Christ. I will use the God's word as an example. Is the law bad? No it is not. Would it be bad for me to do the things in the law? Absolutely not. Should I live by the law and not faith in Christ? There is the difference. We are not to live after Christian life principles. We are to live by faith, with Christ fully in our spiritual crosshairs, so to speak.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.
That is how we should live. In a pool of faith, moment to moment. Me living in my reality with my focus on my Christian life is not faith. That would be sight. It all boils down to motivation. Do your good works come out of a pool of faith, or out of self? What I see is that so many professing Christians are so enamored with wanting to do something that they never fully rest in Christ's finished work. They never fully enjoy and are thankful for what Jesus did while He was here on earth. Every time someone is thankful for the finished work on the cross, there is always that, "Ya but you got to do your part you know". I know that the question many are asking right now is, "Should we not do any good works?". It is not good works that God hates. It is good works that ignore His works that He hates. God will not have us glorying in our flesh in His presence. Whatever is not of faith is sin and we are to live our lives by faith in the Son of God. What we need then is to know what we have in Christ. How God views us is absolutely critical to the way we live our lives. The bible says that we are dead and our lives are hid with Christ, in God. It also says that we have been crucified with Christ. We are in Christ, members of His physical body, part of His history. One with Jesus. Christ is our life. How can we die to ourselves if our lives are hid in Christ? How can we crucify the flesh if our flesh was crucified with His? How can we build upon our righteousness when Christ is our righteousness? Why should we fight and strive against the world, the flesh, and the devil when we are in Christ and He has already overcome them all? Is Christ not freed from sin? Seeing that we are in Him and members of His body, are not we also? Are we not overwhelming conquerors through Him? Can we improve on that? I think if we all could just read scripture and believe what it says, we would start living that overcoming life by faith and God would get the glory and not us. That's as simple as it gets.
An added note. The word discipline only appears once in the bible in the book of Job. What if we led disciplined lives (in reference to relationship) with our family and spouses? What would it look like? Scheduled appointment times perhaps, with detailed itineraries of what activities would take place. Sound intimate to you? Absolutely absurd. I wonder what God thinks when we have scheduled worship, prayer, and devotions...? When our spiritual lives are planned out to the last detail, is our relationship real? When our relationship with God is just going through the motions, does it please Him? If it is not spontaneous, isn't it just acting or going through the motions to make us feel better? Do we really know God or are our lives just based on a belief system, a doctrine or just another empty religion? Without faith it is impossible to please Him and that is how we approach God and relate to Him.
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